Beijing – Baidu (NASD: BIDU),
China’s largest
search engine, plans to form a new independent company to launch a licensed
video portal for Chinese Internet users.
The news confirms speculation in
reports on the service from yesterday, when Providence Equity Partners — also
an investor in the Hulu video portal joint venture — invested $60 million and
Baidu a reported $10 million more into a joint venture.
Baidu said it has named
Yu Gong as CEO of the new venture; Gong was formerly president and COO of China
Mobile’s 12580 business, and before that was COO of Sohu.com.
"As China’s
Internet industry evolves, we have seen increasing demand for high-quality
video content on our search platform. By establishing this new company, we will
be able to better serve our users and customers with superior content and
focused resources," said Xuyang Ren, Baidu’s vice president of marketing
and business development.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/tzfyu
http://snipurl.com/tzfzn
(DMW previous coverage)
